Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
Rose Shirmer pulls her daughters, Rachel, center, and Nicole, right, around on a sled during the snowstorm on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 24, 2009, at Redbud Park.

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
Charles Boyd, with Sudden Impact Towing and Recovery, signals to his partner as they work to pull a jack-knifed tractor trailer off of Loop 322 during the snowstorm Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009.

Victor Cristales/Reporter-News
Lee Edmond scrapes ice off his wife Vicky's car outside their home on Grape Street before she leaves for work on Christmas Eve.

Victor Cristales/Reporter-News
Marcus Mullings rides his bike to the McDonald's on North Judge Ely Boulevard for a cup of coffee with friends on Christmas Eve.

Snowy weather brought a beautiful white blanket of snow to Abilene and counties across the Big Country Thursday, but that winter storm also made for hazardous driving.

If you have never heard the word “blizzard” when referring to snowfall in the Big Country, that is because it has never happened. But it has now.

High winds and blowing snow Thursday prompted the National Weather Service to issue a “blizzard warning” for West Central Texas —the first blizzard warning issued for this area since the NWS office in San Angelo opened in 1947.

A blizzard warning is issued when blowing or falling snow is accompanied by sustained winds above 35 miles per hour, reducing visibility to less than one-quarter mile for three hours or more.

The blizzard warning was issued for Callahan, Haskell, Jones, Shackelford, and Throckmorton counties. A winter storm warning was issued for Taylor and other counties in the Big Country that weren’t included in the blizzard warning.

“The is the worst I’ve seen it in 20 years,” said Haskell Police Chief Steve Grand.

Temperatures will be below 20 degrees on Christmas morning but should inch up to 40 later in the day. Sunny skies also are expected.

Meteorologist Les Hiesler, who worked at the Abilene office of the NWS before it closed, said he did not recall a blizzard warning ever being issued from the office, which was opened from 1908 to 1995.

Abilene received between two and five inches of snow, while between seven and eight inches accumulated in the northern parts of the Big Country.

The winter storm system tracked east along Interstate 20 Thursday, bringing snow to all of the areas east of Abilene.

Snowy conditions turned to slush, then ice, making roadways hazardous for motorists. Accidents were reported all along I-20 from Mitchell County to Eastland County.

“All of the snow is along and north of I-20,” said Buddy McIntyre, a meteorologist with the NWS in San Angelo.

The blizzard conditions caused white-out conditions for drivers, and freezing temperatures are expected to keep the roads icy and very hazardous.